About

Growing up, my mom was an avid crafter.  Her Christmas budget was generated entirely from what she could earn from selling her homemade creations at Craft Fairs and Christmas Bazaars so, obviously, I did anything I could to help ensure she sold as much as she could!  I have so many memories of fetching fabric, batting, yarn, and finding mismatched buttons and twigs for her to use as her notions.  After she passed in June of 2025, I decided I wanted to follow a bit in her footsteps, or foot pedals, if you will.  I remembered that she would crochet rugs from old tee-shirts and cotton rope, but I'm more of a knitter and even that cramps up my hands.  So, I decided on rugs...just different.  Then, I needed a name.  Flash back to childhood.         

When I was at church camp, way back in the 1900s, a counselor told us a story about a man named Grady that had a profound impact on his life and changed his faith in Jesus forever.  I immediately flipped to the back of my bible and wrote "Remember Grady when you get to heaven.  Don't forget to ask to meet him" and have put that in the back of each new bible I've gotten.  While the context of the story - and just how Grady impacted that counselors life - has slipped from my memory, the insistent desire to remember Grady himself has remained.         

I knew I wanted Grady to be the first bit, but I also wanted something that represented my faith and appreciation for what Jesus has done in my life.  So I started thinking about different aspects of God and what part of God I wanted people to see most in me.  Enter grace.         

 I already knew about God's grace (it's even my daughter's middle name), but the grace I experienced after losing my mom was more profound than anything I've felt before.  I was in a pretty dark place, fearful of the future, and questioning the very power of God.  But the thing about grace, and God in general, is that it (and God himself) never leaves you, even when you're the one that walks away.  Grace is there waiting when you've reached the end of your rope, when you've hit rock bottom, when the weight of the world is crushing your very soul...God's grace is what will lift you up again.  Sure, love and mercy are great things and I try very hard to exemplify those things in my life.  But grace...that's the one I want people to see.  I want them to see that it's through grace that they have the option for eternal life (Eph 2:8), that grace will carry them through their weakness (2Cor 2:9 and Heb 4:16) and that the Lord actually longs to show us his grace (Isa 30:16).  And with this, Grady Grace was named.         

I work on these creations in my home, often listening to worship music, and just generally being thankful that God has placed me exactly where I am, exactly at this time, despite any trials I might be enduring.